Page 147 of Ethan

His hands slid up the plane of Hank’s sweaty back, reveling in the feeling of their bodies pressed together.

“We’re doing that again,” Hank finally croaked out as he lifted himself up. His hazel eyes looked as smugly satisfied as Ethan felt.

“Oh yeah,” Ethan agreed. “Both ways. All the ways.”

Hank nodded and then pulled out of him and then off the bed. He was back a moment later to clean them up, and then he didn’t waste a moment more before he was sliding back in, right next to Ethan, arm around his shoulders, tugging him in.

“Love you,” Hank said, pressing the words and his mouth into Ethan’s skin.

Ethan sighed happily. “Love you, too.”

Hank was quiet for a long moment, but he did finally say, “Eventually we’re gonna have to get our own place, you know.”

Ethan knew. Just the same as they’d eventually need to ship Hank’s truck down here. Maybe even get Ethan a car of his own. “Yeah, but not yet. Charlie can deal. Maybe it’ll even show him that he doesn’t have to deny himself good things.”

“Maybe,” Hank said dubiously, andGod, Ethan did love him.

“Youareperfect for me,” Ethan said again. “Don’t even buy into the bullshit of my brothers.”

“Avery’s not half bad,” Hank agreed, and Ethan couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled out of him.

Chapter 20

Thefirstsignthatsomething was off was that during drills the next day at practice, Silas pulled Hank aside and said, “Hey, Tuck. You ever play on the right side?”

Hank hesitated. “Yeah. Um. A few times. Do you want me—”

“Nothing for right now,” Silas said easily, casually. He patted Hank on the shoulder pad. “Don’t worry about it.”

But it was impossible for Hank tonotthink about it. He spent the next twenty minutes half focused on the drills and half focused on all the other defensemen on the Bandits’ roster. Watching them all, trying to figure out how Silas might switch up the pairs.

The most obvious choice would be switching him and Jonesy because Avery played on the left.

But there was no way that Silas could seriously be considering putting him withAvery freaking Barnes. Maybe Avery and Jonesy hadn’t quite clicked yet, but that didn’t mean with more work and time they wouldn’t.

Silas didn’t tend to make a lot of knee-jerk decisions. See him leaving Eth a center on the third line forever, even though it wasbecoming clearer and clearer that he was much better suited to playing wing—at least for now—on Max’s line.

“Your face is gonna freeze like that and then what’s Ethan going to do with you?” Jonesy asked during a break, as Hank was loitering by the boards, trying to pretend that he wasn’t watching as Avery naturally didn’t take the break but instead was running some edge-work drills.

His skating was a fucking marvel and watching him really proved to Hank that Silas would have to be fucking nuts to put them together.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Hank lied, badly.

“You’re frowning, Tuck. What’s wrong?” Jonesy glanced over in the direction that Hank had been trying to pretend he wasn’t looking. “Oh, yeah, well, he makes usalllook bad,” he added wryly.

Hank debated saying something, but it was obvious that Brock had already realized part of the problem. “You’re just having a tougher time adjusting to each other. V played in a really different system, and you just approach the ice in two distinct ways,” he offered.

He didnotsay that Avery made Brock look like every one of his thirty-two years. And not that thirty-two couldn’t still be a fucking amazing d-man. There was just an understandable adjustment when you were no longer the fastest or the strongest guy on the ice, and the problem was that Averydidn’thave to make those adjustments.

Brock smiled, looking tired. Worn out, really. Which made sense. It was late January. They wereallkind of tired. The season was a slog, and this season had been especially tough, because they kept losing when they needed to be winning. They were four games out of playoff contention, and the trade, which should’ve kick-started them, hadn’t seemed to make much difference.

“You’re a good guy, Tuck,” Brock said, patting him. “Remember that, okay?”

Hank didn’t know what that was supposed to mean, but he figured it out pretty damn quick when they came back after the break, Silas calling all the d-men over.

“We’re gonna switch a few things up,” Silas announced. “Nothing’s permanent, but I wanna see some different looks. Jonesy, why don’t you partner up with Keegan. I want Trey and Gian together. And V, you’re gonna be with Tuck.”

Hank had been half expecting this. It wasn’tthatinsane for the coaching staff to see what other options they had, if Avery and Brock never gelled right. You weren’t going to waste that kind of opportunity.Buteven though Avery had been unassuming and frankly ridiculously non-egotistical considering his skills since arriving in New York, Hank was still half convinced that he was going to put his hand up and say,Coach, I’m not partnering with some kid fresh up from the AHL. I’ve been a Norris finalist, twice.